Paul Schrader

Born: 1946-07-22

Paul Joseph Schrader (born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first became widely known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scorsese, writing or co-writing Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Schrader has also directed 24 films, including Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Cat People (1982), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Light Sleeper (1992), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017); the latter earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Schrader's work frequently depicts troubled men struggling through an existential crisis that is then punctuated by a violent, cathartic event. Raised in a strict Calvinist family, Schrader attended Calvin College before electing to pursue film studies at UCLA on the encouragement of film critic Pauline Kael. He then worked as a film scholar and critic, publishing the book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972) before making the transition to screenwriting in 1974. The success of Taxi Driver in 1976 brought greater attention to his work, and Schrader began directing his own films beginning with Blue Collar (co-written with his brother, Leonard Schrader). His three most recent films have been described by Schrader as a loose trilogy: First Reformed (2017), The Card Counter (2021), and Master Gardener (2022). Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Schrader, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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Dog Eat Dog

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Hitchcock/Truffaut

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Milius

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Released: 2013-03-09

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Sex at 24 Frames Per Second

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Released: 2003-09-23

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Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic

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The Road to Bresson

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Released: 1984-05-13

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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

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Released: 2003-03-09

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Tales from the Script

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A Decade Under the Influence

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Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That

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Documentary about filmmaker Budd Boetticher.

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Eames: The Architect and the Painter

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Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business

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Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade

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Making 'Taxi Driver'

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Raging Bull: Before the Fight

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1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever!

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Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light

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Influence And Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute

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Released: 2007-08-14

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Pictures of Europe

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Released: 1990-04-25

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The Book of Harth

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Released: 2022-08-10

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Hollywood Mavericks

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Released: 1990-09-07

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The Rules of Film Noir

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Released: 2009-08-22

Matthew Sweet explores his rules of 1940s and 50s American film noir thrillers.

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Talking with Ozu

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Released: 1993-11-27

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God's Lonely Man

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Released: 2007-08-14

An examination of Travis's condition and situation in Taxi Driver

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Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer

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Released: 1990-07-02

Documentary about the life and work of film director Preston Sturges.

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Paul Schrader: Man in a Room

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Released: 2020-01-17

In the sixth installment of the Criterion Channel's Meet the Filmmakers series, director Alex...

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Godard Made in USA

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Released: 2010-12-11

Documentary by Luc Lagier exploring Godard's career as a filmmaker, the production of Breathless...

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Untitled: New Blue

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Released: 1995-01-01

A short film directed by Paul Schrader following the story of a painting from Schrader's collection.

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The Beauty of Horror: Paul Schrader on The Comfort of Strangers

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Released: 2020-08-18

An interview with Paul Schrader on his 1990 film "The Comfort of Strangers"

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Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter

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First aired: 2015-08-02

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The Last Movie Stars

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First aired: 2022-07-21

A celebration of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s iconic careers and decades-long partnership....

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The Story of Film: An Odyssey

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First aired: 2011-09-03

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Scene by Scene

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First aired: 1997-05-10

Mark Cousins invites film actors and directors to watch major scenes in their career to date,...

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